Show notes
What if the created world is speaking reminders of God’s presence, healing, and hope every single day—we just need to slow down enough to notice?
What can foggy skies, dormant trees, nesting birds, and changing seasons teach us about God?
Award-winning author, naturalist, and photographer Cheryl Bostrom joins Willow for a beautiful conversation about how creation speaks daily, revealing reminders of God’s character, presence, healing, and faithfulness—even in the seasons when He feels far away.
Cheryl has spent a lifetime paying attention to the natural world. Growing up amid the forests of the Pacific Northwest, she experienced sorrow and heartbreak within her own family and learned early to find solace outside. Those experiences eventually found their way into her award-winning novel Sugar Birds, a story that explores guilt, shame, suffering, belonging, and the questions we ask about God when life hurts.
One of Cheryl’s most powerful reminders comes from an ordinary Pacific Northwest winter day. Fog may make it impossible to see the trees clearly, and thick clouds may completely hide the sun—but the trees are still there and the light hasn’t disappeared. Beneath the ground, roots are growing. Sap is beginning to move. What appears dormant is already preparing for another season of life.
For Cheryl, creation becomes a tangible reminder that even when we can’t see what God is doing, He is still present and at work.
Meet Cheryl Bostrom
Cheryl Bostrom is a Pacific Northwest naturalist, photographer, and award-winning author. Her writing has appeared in Upper Room Disciplines and God & Nature magazine, and she previously wrote for Women of Faith. She is the author of the award-winning novel Sugar Birds, The View from Goose Ridge: Watching Nature, What the River Keeps, and Leaning on Air.
Cheryl began pursuing fiction at age 60, and Sugar Birds went on to receive recognition from the American Fiction Awards, Readers' Favorite Awards, Best Book Awards, and Christianity Today.
Key Takeaways
- When God feels hidden: Remember that unseen doesn't mean absent. Just as the sun remains behind thick clouds, God remains present even when we can't see Him clearly.
- When life feels like winter: Pay attention to what may be happening beneath the surface. Roots grow underground before spring appears.
- When you need to hear from God: Go outside and pay attention. Cheryl suggests photographing something ordinary or beautiful and asking, If this picture could talk, what would it tell me about the One who made it?
- When a dream hasn't happened yet: Don't assume not yet means never. Cheryl began writing fiction at 60 and encourages women to develop their gifts while trusting God's timing.
- When someone else's gift catches your attention: Encourage her. A few simple words of affirmation can help someone find the courage to pursue what God has placed within her.
How This Episode Will Encourage You
Maybe you’re walking through your own winter right now.
Something feels dead. A prayer seems unanswered. A dream hasn’t happened. God feels hidden behind a mile of clouds, and you’re struggling to see evidence that anything is changing.
Cheryl invites us to go outside and pay attention.
Look at the bare branch. Notice the changing seasons. Take a picture of something ordinary and ask, “If this picture could talk, what would it tell me about the One who made it?”
Creation reminds us that unseen doesn’t mean absent. Dormant doesn’t mean dead. And winter doesn’t mean spring isn’t coming.
Whether you’re navigating suffering, waiting for a dream, or simply longing to experience God’s presence again, this conversation will encourage you to slow down, look around, and notice the ways creation may be speaking words of hope right where you are.
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